A Thinking Man
by CrystalSaffron
Summary: Puck considers what life was like pre-Glee and why he hated on the original Gleeks so much. One-shot


Summary: Puck thinks about life pre-Glee and why he hated on the original Gleeks so much.  
Rating: K+ just because Puck swears even in his head and has dirty thoughts (it is Puck)  
Disclaimer: I don't own Puck (though Lord knows I'd certainly enjoy that) or Glee. Sadly it's the property of Fox and Ryan Murphy.  
A/N: Anything in parentheses is Puck's added thoughts, not mine. Anything Puck thinks (mainly political wise) is not necessarily what I think, I'm just trying to get into his head a bit.  
Feedback: Is extremely lovely and much appreciated and keeps me happy! =) Constructive criticism is welcome since I always strive to improve my writing but flames are not and will be tossed into the ocean. Thank you!

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Puck was never a thoughtful kind of guy. If someone asked him his opinion on the current hot topic, he normally shrugged and started a conversation about chicks. He didn't like to put a lot of thought into things because he honestly didn't care. Who cared about that MILF Palin got elected even though she had sucky policies. She was hot for a cougar.

So when someone (it was Finn, he thinks) asked Puck why he hated Rachel Berry and the rest of the original Gleeks he just shrugged, muttered some reason about why they were losers and deserved the slushies and dumpster dives, and changed the conversation to one about chicks.

The truth was that there was a very good reason why Puck treated the original Gleeks like trash before he joined Glee. It was because they reminded him every day that he was just a Lima loser. He was never going to make it out of Ohio and he was never going to be anything more than a nobody that was a sex god (and while he was quite the sex god it wasn't –all- that he wanted to be known for).

Rachel, Kurt, Mercedes and even Tina and Artie could make him feel as if he was worthless. Just some jock that was eventually going to go bald and have a beer belly and reminisce about the glory days. But they? They were actually going somewhere. They were going to get out of this godforsaken town.

Tina and Artie weren't as bad as the other three, but they still managed to drive him up the wall at times. Tina was this goth chick who stuttered a lot, but she was memorable even though she tried not to be. She stood out because she didn't want to stand out. That irritated the hell out of Puck. Not being special shouldn't make someone special. It didn't make any sense.

Artie was an A/V genius and a killer on the guitar. He had done more in a wheelchair than Puck would have ever done. Not many people realize how hard it is to be in the chair and not have anyone notice because of how gracefully you accepted it. Later, when he was in Glee, it wouldn't surprise Puck that no one considered that maybe Artie would want to ride in the bus to sectionals. He was just so calm and so accepting about it in public that no one thought anything of the struggles that he overcame each day. The guy was a rock.

Mercedes had absolutely no problems being just who she was. She wore what she wanted to wear, said what she wanted to say and didn't care about her image at all. Puck could dream of not giving a damn about what people thought of him, but the truth was, he absolutely did care. He needed the attention. He craved it. It had taken him a long time to build his reputation and he would be damned if someone didn't respect that. But Mercedes? She couldn't care less what you thought of her, as long as you got out of her way. Puck had respected that even before Glee.

Kurt was one of the top two that drove Puck wild with frustration and anger. Kurt was just so…Kurt. He was a lot like Mercedes in that way. He was who he was and he wasn't going to change. He had this way of looking at you and seeing you for exactly for who you were at the core. Puck didn't like that. As mentioned before, Puck wasn't a thinking guy and didn't like to consider who he was at the core. So he tried to replace that soul-searing look with one of fear. But even throwing Kurt in the dumpsters was never truly satisfying. He always came back dressed in the latest designer labels and looking more above-it-all than ever. Puck truly believed that one day they really would all be working for Kurt.

But Berry. Oh, Rachel Berry. She was the worst. The first day of high school she bounced in to class in one of her short "fuck-me" skirts and knee-high socks. At first, Puck thought that she was gorgeous, with legs for miles, bangin' bod and pretty face. But then it came time for her to introduce herself in class and her first sentence made Puck choose her as his prime victim for the slushie attacks. Opening her mouth (and did she really just lick her lips like that?) she said the fateful words of: "My name is Rachel Berry and one day I'm going to be a star."

Puck had laughed with the rest of the class and, though she frowned at that, Puck was a bit shaken inside. She wasn't just saying it because she wanted to be or because she dreamed that she might be. Rachel Berry _knew_ that she was going to be a star. Puck could tell that there wasn't a question in her mind. Over the first year of attacking her with slushies Puck also found out that she had the drive and determination to back up that statement.

The first time he had slushied her she had stood there in shock as he had laughed and laughed with his new teammates on the football team. The grape slushy slid down her face and fell with a slap onto her shoes as she tilted her chin up.

"I'm going to be a star one day. And you'll just be a nobody." With that she had stomped off. Puck and his friends were still laughing but Puck felt a shiver down his spine.

She was right. He was going to be a nobody forever. Furious that she had figured that out he made it his mission to try to break her down. To try to destroy what she so firmly believed in. He wanted to prove to her that she was just as much of a nobody as he was. But every time he slushied her it was the same. She would tilt her chin up and stomp off to the bathroom with that same look in her eyes as the first day that he had slushied her. She was going to be a star. He was going to be a Lima loser forever.

So he tried not to think about that. Tried to not think at all really. And then one day he joined Glee. Yeah, he said it was to get into Quinn's pants (which was true) but it was also to prove to Berry that he _wasn't_ going to be some nobody. He was going to get out of this god forsaken town one day, goddamn it.

Then, after he sang Sweet Caroline to her (that song is the shit) she had come up to him in the hall and kissed him on the cheek.

"You and me. We're going to be stars one day, Noah. It's going to happen." And just like that she had walked off to join up with the other original Gleeks. As she walked away, Puck considered the thought that maybe he wasn't going to be a Lima loser after all.

Then he shrugged his shoulders, shook his head a bit, and turned to Mike to start a conversation about chicks.

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